Attorney General Matt Denn on Tuesday joined a coalition of 22 Attorneys General in filing a multistate lawsuit to block the Federal Communications Commission’s rollback of net neutrality. The coalition filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, formally commencing the lawsuit against the FCC and the federal government.

The repeal of net neutrality would have dire consequences for consumers and businesses in Delaware and across the country by allowing internet service providers to block certain content, charge consumers more to access certain sites, and throttle or slow the quality of content from content providers that don’t pay more.

“The free and open internet has become a backbone to the way our people, our business and our society work, learn and live,” Attorney General Denn said. “The FCC not only made the wrong decision, they made it in a flawed way, so my fellow Attorneys General and I will work to reverse it through this action.”

Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the FCC cannot make “arbitrary and capricious” changes to existing policies, such as net neutrality. The FCC’s new rule fails to justify the Commission’s departure from its long-standing policy and practice of defending net neutrality, while misinterpreting and disregarding critical record evidence on industry practices and harm to consumers and businesses. Moreover, the rule wrongly reclassifies broadband internet as a Title I information service, rather than a Title II telecommunications service, based on an erroneous and unreasonable interpretation of the Telecommunications Act. Finally, the rule improperly and unlawfully includes sweeping preemption of state and local laws.

The lawsuit includes the Attorneys General of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

Comments (10)

Matt is where it’s at. Back to back law suites over clean air and net neutrality that’s pretty amazing statement of the people, for the people and by the people. Best AG we have had in the last fifty years. He is truly committed and am sorry to see him leave the post.
Al Jackson

I hope El Som won’t ban me for what I am about to say, but I am truly interested in the DL community’s thoughts on this … Today at Leg Hall, a bill was unveiled to keep guns away from people who are too dangerous to have them – hard to find a more progressive cause than that. Bentz and Kowalko (two favorites of the progressive community) were there, along with Carney, Hall-Long (who was a cosponsor of the earlier 2013 bill), Schwartzkopf and Longhurst. But where was Matt Denn? He’s supposed to be the state’s top law enforcement officer, but is totally absent on a day when a progressive bill is announced to respond to the crisis of gun violence?

it takes a lot of courage to join other states’ lawsuits… that said, freed from the burdens of a re-election bid, our AG has certainly liberated his – um – spirit. One day we will think back fondly about the last year just like we reminisce over all of Joe Biden’s hypothetical presidential campaigns.

Stewball and Scuttlebutt: The problem with your scenario is that it’s just not true. I’m pretty sure that Denn has been part of virtually every lawsuit brought by that group of AG’s who challenge discriminatory business practices, business consumer fraud and, most recently, the excesses of the Trump regime.

Both he and Biden before him have used this tool extensively. In marked contrast to Jane Brady, who was on the other side of justice.

If I’m mistaken, I’d be delighted to know when Denn hasn’t taken part in one of these multistate actions by progressive AG’s. While Eric Schneiderman of New York State may be the leader of this unofficial group, Denn has been on the team since he took office.

I think Jane Brady’s record stands up well against Beau Biden as AG. (There were a lot of flaws in Bidens’s tenure). The position is not supposed to be a stepping stone for “advanced” Political office. I was surprised and hopefully when Matt Denn stepped down that who ever succeeds him concentrates on the Post itself and ceases with the Political Self Promotion. Imagine that, actually concentrating on the task at hand instead of perpetually office seeking.

Let me get this straight: You think Jane Brady was less politically motivated for higher office than others who have held the office? You really don’t remember her fucking up the Peterson prosecution by announcing on national TV that she was going for the death penalty? Really?

I was no fan of Beau, but this is gag-worthy revisionism.

Add that to the fact that state AGs nationally are known as “governors in waiting,” meaning that Delaware’s AGs have actually been less likely to move on to higher office — as I noted previously, many are just after a judgeship — and I have to conclude that, respectfully, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.